The present invention relates to a method for recording color separation picture images and an outline image simultaneously for use in a picture reproducing machine such as a color scanner for plate making, a color facsimile, or the like, and more particularly relates to a method for recording a set of color separation picture images for color separation picture plates of magenta M, cyan C, yellow Y and black K, and an outline image for an outline finish masking, simultaneously, in a picture reproducing machine.
In a conventional color scanner for plate making, a plurality of color separation picture plates can be recorded on a photosensitive material in a single step, as disclosed in Japanese Pat. No. 1,010,876 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-18601), entitled as "A COLOR SEPARATION PICTURE SCANNING AND RECORDING SYSTEM".
An outline finish masking is used when the background of a picture is to be removed for printing and only the desired object in the picture is to be recorded. Usually, an opaque film having a transparent portion which conforms the outline of the desired object to be recorded, is overlapped on the original picture or the color separation image, and then this is exposed onto the photosensitive material, thereby obtaining a reproduction picture of the desired object excluding the background.
Therefore, the outline finish masking should exactly conform the outline of the desired object to be recorded. In the prior art, the outline finish masking is prepared by overlapping a transparent sheet on the original picture, drawing an outline of the desired object by tracing it by hand, and smearing out the unnecessary background by hand. However, this method involves a lot of time and labor, which is uneconomical and slow. Further, the obtained outline finish masking is often inaccurate.